I will discuss a class of scalar models that, once
coupled to gravity, lead to cosmologies that smoothly and
stably connect an inflationary quasi-de Sitter universe to a
low, or even zero-curvature, maximally symmetric spacetime in
the asymptotic past, strongly violating the null energy
condition at intermediate times. The models are based on
symmetries, both exact and approximate, that give rise to the
quantum robustness of the whole picture. The resulting
cosmological backgrounds can be viewed as regularized
extensions of the galilean genesis scenario, or, equivalently,
as `early-time-complete' realizations of infation.